


To Soothe The Pain

by Akinasky



Series: SterekBingo 2019 [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: He's going to be fine though, Jennifer and Kali are not at all canon compliant, M/M, Music, Musician Derek Hale, Sterek Bingo, Sterek Bingo 2019, Stiles gets kidnapped, Stiles is kind of a Stalker, the raven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 19:19:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18723319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Stiles realizes that Derek is running off at the same time every week and he wants to know where and why. He finds more than he's sure he can deal with and he doesn't want to give it up.





	To Soothe The Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to add music all throughout the fic and just didn't get to add it, if anyone cares I can always add a note later about the songs I love for Derek.

Stiles noticed Derek’s absence the first time because he’d been specifically looking for him and the betas were their usual unhelpful selves, answering with shrugs and expletive laden demands for Stiles to get out of the loft. He rolled his eyes on the way out, texting Derek his question instead, figuring it was a 50/50 shot that the Sourwolf would even answer, which is why he came in person to begin with. Derek found it a lot more difficult to run away or hide from Stiles when he was right in front of him.

Then it happened again, same time the next week and Stiles became more curious, this didn’t seem to be creeper lurking because normally he was at the loft with Isaac and Erica on the weekends, being the ‘best alpha’ he could be. Boyd had a much more vocal and aware family, so they noticed if he wasn’t there to babysit his siblings on the weekends. Erica for her part, once she ‘got over’ her seizures, seemed to just stop caring about whether or not her parents wanted her home and they were too grateful for a normal daughter to fight back about it. Not that Stiles was judging…much.

Stiles asked them again, where Derek was and this time, they just ignored him.

The third and fourth week mostly consisted of finding out what time Derek was leaving the loft since Stiles had come at different times and Derek had already been gone, so he could ‘tag along’ or follow Derek.

About a month and a half after figuring out this weird absence, Stiles was following the Camaro from a safe distance in Melissa’s car which Scott traded for the Jeep for this one stealth job and they were _never telling Melissa_ about it which seemed like a safe bet to both teenagers. Melissa was scary, with or without her home protection bat.

When Derek kept driving out of town, Stiles held back as far as he could without losing the Camaro and looked up GoogleMaps to see if there was anything of interest outside of town, as they drove, things kept popping up but since it was in the evening, most of the coffee shops and stores were closed. Though he couldn’t imagine Derek going to a bar either, which left him even more confused as he continued to tail the Camaro for another fifteen minutes before it pulled off the road and down into a town center where bars and a couple restaurants were still open. He parked on the side of the road while Stiles parked down another couple blocks, away from the Camaro then turned around in his seat with the binoculars he’d brought with for this reason and watched as Derek walked into a small building called ‘The Raven Trickster’ without looking around once. This was not the first time Derek had been there, that much was certain in his calm demeanor. It was probably the most relaxed he’d ever seen Derek Hale look, ever. The rest though, was still a mystery for Stiles.

He waited two hours to see if Derek would exit the building and he didn’t so he finally left around ten thirty and figured he was going to need to do a lot more research in the week before Derek came here again.

After school the following Monday, actually before school and during several of his classes he tried to find out whatever he could about the place Derek went into but it seemed that ‘The Raven Trickster’ was not much more than a hole in the wall restaurant/bar with very little in the way of a technological footprint. By Wednesday, Stiles was parking near the place and walking up to the door with his best friend and his fake ID, staring down a burly doorman and hoping they wouldn’t have to bribe their way in since he’d only brought like forty dollars and at least twenty of that was going into his gas tank on the way home. The man looked over their ID’s and rolled his eyes before taking a subtle sniff at Scott and then letting them pass.

“That was strange,” Stiles whispered when they made it inside, pocketing their ID’s and wallets once again.

“He’s a werewolf,” Scott whispered back, “He knew what I am, I think that’s why he let us in. What did you say you found about this place?”

“Not much,” shrugged Stiles as they walked over to the small bar and ordered a couple of sodas, not wanting to push their luck. He didn’t even really tell Scott what they were here for, he didn’t need his best friend wondering why he was taking such a keen interest in their resident Alpha Sourwolf. And because Scott was a good guy most of the time, especially when he wasn’t obsessing over a girl, he came anyway. Thank goodness for that because apparently fake ID’s were not how you got in the door.

Scott looked around the room while they sipped at their drinks, frowning a little as he stared at each person in the place. Stiles looked around, wondering why Derek would be coming here, a lot.

There was a small bar, which they were sitting at as well as four to six tables with chairs as well as a small stage in one corner. There were no menus or anything like a schedule for the place, nothing of significance on the walls. There weren’t any pictures of proprietors or even business/liquor licenses so Stiles was left without any clues as to the alpha’s reasons for being here. Or even the legalities of the bar being here. No paper trail to follow, now clues to gather which only made the answers all the more compelling.

They finished their drinks, ignoring the interested attention they were getting from the bartender and the few people that were in the bar at the time and walked back out about fifteen minutes later. Scott moved uncomfortably fast away from the doors and towards the jeep. Stiles opened the doors and they piled in, the doors only barely closed before Scott turned and said, “It’s some kind of supernatural ‘watering hole’!”

Stiles raised a brow, “Watering hole?”

“Come on man, you know what I mean! It’s a place where werewolves and different supernatural creatures go to be themselves and have something to drink. That’s why there wasn’t any menus or drink options that we could see, it’s possible that they wouldn’t be able to market it or even display it the same way. I think they let you in because you were with me. Of the five people who were in there, three of them were werewolves and the other two were something else. I couldn’t figure it out by scent but I’m telling you, we were just in a bar that caters to the ‘other’.”

Stiles snorted, “The ‘Other’? Really? Is that what you call yourself?”

Scott shrugged, “As you like to tell me, I’m not really human anymore. I’m ‘other’.”

Stiles chuckled, starting the jeep and they headed back to Beacon Hills while Scott mumbled about Allison maybe getting back together with him and Stiles thought about what the hell Derek was going there for. Maybe he could ask.

As soon as he had the thought, Stiles shook his head a little, thinking of the hundred ways Derek would say ‘none of your business’ and wondered how many of them would have expletives in it. There was no way Derek ‘I will rip your throat out with my teeth’ Hale was going to tell him anything.

So how would Stiles be able to snoop without Derek knowing he was there?

Stiles dropped Scott off at his house and then went home and started researching ways to hide his presence from a werewolf. The next three days, every second he wasn’t working on schoolwork, he was researching. He spoke to Deaton, trying not to give away the specifics of why he needed what he needed and the man hemmed and hawed but finally gave Stiles the name of a book that he could look at though in. Even offered his copy. Stiles enthusiastically agreed and went to pick it up a day before Derek’s usual trek to the bar. He found the spell that would obscure his scent and as a bonus would keep his face from being too clear from a distance. He was still himself, but for the two hours at a time that the spell was good for, no one would be able to really _see_ or recognize him. He did everything to book asked him to do and called Scott over to test it.

“Why do you smell weird?” Scott asked as he walked in through the front door.

Stiles fist pumped in excitement at the knowledge that his best friend didn’t recognize his scent. He knew it was Stiles but they were up close and the spell specifically said that it was meant to help him slip into the background. Stiles planned to borrow some clothes from Scott as well, something that Derek wouldn’t recognize as Stilinski style. Scott was holding the duffel bag in his hand.

“Thanks for this man, I really appreciate it.”

“What are you doing?” Scott asked with a frown.

“What do you mean?” Stiles asked with his patented innocent look that convinced _absolutely no one_.

Scott raised a questioning brow, “No seriously, Stiles. What’s this about?”

Stiles shrugged and reached out to take the duffel bag but Scott held fast to it. He looked back at his best friend, “Scott. You aren’t going to like what this is about so I am giving you an opportunity to not know. That way we don’t have to play this ‘don’t do this’ ‘I’m doing this’ back and forth that we’ve been playing most of our lives.”

“Tell me anyway,” Scott demanded and tugged the duffel bag away. Stiles rolled his eyes as he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I am going back to The Raven to see why Derek is going there once a week.”

“Stiles!” Scott exclaimed, “You can’t. I told you that they place is for supernatural creatures. You are going to be out of your depth, you can’t. And for Derek! Why?”

“Because I care about Derek and I have to know why he’s going there. Like if he’s just going for a beer then I won’t need to stay very long but if it’s more than that, if he’s in trouble I just need to know.”

“What? You care about Derek? Why?”

“Why?” Stiles repeated. “Why should I be interested in one of the most intriguing people we’ve ever met? Should I not care about someone who has been so greatly affected by the hunters and us? We sent him to jail for something he didn’t do! For god’s sake man, have a little compassion; we unburied his fucking sister!”

Scott stared at him mulishly for a moment then dropped the duffel bag before walking back out of the house. Stiles lifted the bag and walked back to his room and unfolded all the clothes. There were a couple pairs of jeans, some t-shirts with nothing on them, so boring, but it was very Scott. Everything else, Stiles would wear his own clothes. With these and the spell, he had everything he needed to see what was bringing Derek to The Raven Trickster.

The next day, after making sure his homework was finished and dressing in Scott’s clothes, adding a hat he found somewhere in his closet before heading out. He cast the spell once he was in the parking lot a couple blocks away and two blocks down. The jeep was too well known. Stiles got out of the jeep and locked up before heading towards the bar. There was a line of people waiting to get in and thanks to the spell and the crowd, the bouncer barely looked at him. Stiles found a spot far from the bar and the activity rumbling around the stage, ordered a cola from a waitstaff person and started searching the room for Derek. Stiles made sure to arrive a little before the time that Derek normally showed up. He kept an eye on the door but suddenly the crowd started cheering excitedly around the stage and he looked over.

Derek was sitting on stage with a guitar.

“What the actual fuck?” he whispered.

Everyone was quieting while Derek started strumming a song. Stiles didn’t know if he knew the song or not, pulling his phone and setting it to record because if Derek was going to sing, he needed some kind of proof to listen to later. He didn’t really know the song but when Derek opened his mouth and started singing, Stiles sat with his mouth ajar and tears clinging to his lids.

Derek had a beautiful voice, tremulous and strong, sad and breaking every once in a while. It wasn’t some practiced performance; this was catharsis and Stiles wasn’t going to ruin it for him. Derek sang three songs, said thank you and left the stage. Stiles stopped the recording and stood up to leave while people were still cheering loudly for an encore. Derek wasn’t coming back; Stiles didn’t have to wait to know that. He wasn’t here for the fame or the applause. He was here to figure things out for himself.

Stiles rushed away from the bar, towards his jeep, barely making it inside before the catch in his throat became a scream. Something about Derek’s voice and the songs he chose unclogged feelings that Stiles had been desperately trying to ignore for years now.

Derek Hale, the werewolf with so much trauma and shoved down emotions made Stiles feel something. He felt the loss of his mom all over again, he felt the shame and anguish that he’d been lying to his dad for so long and it wasn’t just about the supernatural shenanigans of the town, it was everything. Stiles didn’t tell him about how he was feeling, how his school work was going. It seemed like once Stiles decided to lie, he was an all or nothing kind of guy and it was disgusting.

He disgusted himself.

Stiles went home and tucked away the clothes and the spell book, he went back to work and helped Scott with some of his school work and they ignored the fight they’d had a couple days before. The school year was ending soon and Scott was more desperate to pass, desperate enough to maintain the status quo.

Stiles looked up the songs that Derek sang, he had to listen to the recordings to get the lyrics because when he used the ‘find the song’ app on this phone, none of it would match up. Derek had made slightly different versions of the songs. Apparently, the lyrics mattered more than the music. There was a lot of pain in the music, anger too. Stiles took note of the songs and went about his normal week. Then Sunday rolled around and he donned his borrowed clothes, drove to the Raven and cast the spell.

He slipped in with the crowd and took his seat from last week, settling in for Derek to start.

It became something of an obsession, going and seeing Derek sing. He recorded all the sessions and started following his stage name which apparently was ‘Darren Wolf’ to which everyone in the place thought was amusingly ironic and anytime he introduced himself there were chuckles in the audience. Apparently, The Raven had a twitter account, it was pretty private but they gave it to the audience after a couple of shows and ‘Darren’ had an account.

Derek Hale had a twitter account; Stiles couldn’t believe it.

Any of the wolves having social media was kind of amusing but then again, supernaturals were people too. Stiles made an account to follow The Raven and ‘Darren’ just to see if there was any more information. Mostly it was people sharing how much they loved ‘Darren’ and so on. The Raven’s account usually was just to update about hunters and dangers in the area, which was an unexpected bonus.

Two weeks into summer, Derek was singing some different music, there was still pain but it was carrying a sense of hope. Stiles sat in stunned silence while Derek sang five songs instead of three and when he stopped singing, he stepped down off the stage and walked out like he always did. Stiles stopped recording then continued to sit there while the bar put on music and everyone went back to their regularly scheduled drinking or flirting. Whenever Derek was on stage, no one did anything. No one. But the Raven was a lot like any other bar or restaurant, they served food and alcohol, there was talking and flirting and hookups in the bathroom that kept Stiles from walking into the bathroom most of the time. Supernaturals seemed to have even less shame or patience when it came to getting sex.

After a couple more songs played out, Stiles finally pocketed his phone and headed out to the jeep. He got into the driver seat and drove back to Beacon Hills. He knew the path between The Raven and his house so well he didn’t really feel it passing while he thought about Derek’s hope.

What was that? How could Stiles find out about what had changed?

Stiles parked in his driveway and went to bed, not even worrying about removing the clothes. He fell asleep thinking about hope and pain. How they lived together in a person and sometimes, hope could destroy someone a lot faster than pain ever did.

The next day, Stiles decided that the best way to see what was causing the change in Derek was to go and see Derek. Without the costume and the spell. He could go and see him as Stiles and ask him.

Not about the music or his feelings but about how things were going.

After a quick breakfast, Stiles headed over to the loft and walked up to the third floor and knocked on the big metal sliding door and after a minute it opened to show Erica’s smirking face, “Well well, if it isn’t one Stiles Stilinski. What are you doing here?”

“Is Derek here?” he asked.

She shook her head, “Try the old Hale place, he’s been spending a lot of time there.”

Stiles frowned and turned away before spinning back towards Erica who was still watching him with a smile. It was disconcerting, though he ignored it as he asked, “He’s not living out there or anything, is he?”

Erica shrugged, “Go find him and ask. I don’t babysit him.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and walked away from the door and went back out to the jeep and with reservation, headed to the Preserve. When he found his way onto the little dirt road that led to the house, Stiles’s eyes widened and the _lack of_ the Hale house. He parked in front of where it used to be and jumped out of the jeep, almost forgetting to put it in park. He jumped back it, slamming his foot on the brake while he shoved the gear shift into park before flicking the key to the off position.

Derek was standing next to the remains of the Hale house, the remains of the fire piled up in a pathetic stack that had a chunk that was being moved. Stiles moved towards Derek, “Hey buddy, whatcha doin’?”

“Buddy?” Derek asked, judging Stiles with his judging eyebrows.

“Derek,” Stiles rolled his eyes, “What are you doing out here?”

He gestured around them, “The county demanded that I do something with the house. It was getting to be really dangerous, they demo-ed everything and I am going to clean everything up and rebuild.”

Stiles stared at him, “You’re going to rebuild your family home? Here?”

Derek shrugged, “This is where the foundation is. I have some contractors coming in to work on the foundation and the framework. I have the plans already, something different from my childhood home but here. As soon as the construction that I can’t actually do is completed, me and the betas are going to do with rest of the work.”

“Wow,” Stiles responded, “That was a lot of words for you.”

Derek scoffed and turned back to the pile of detritus and started dragging some of the bigger pieces away and into a wheelbarrow. Stiles looked around then back to Derek, “Do you want some help?”

Derek looked around and then back at Stiles, “If you get hurt, I am not telling your father it was because of me. We are finally getting to a point when he sees me in town, he doesn’t immediately reach for his gun and I would like to continue like that.”

Stiles chuckled and pulled off his red sweater and tossing it on top of the jeep before he walked over and started helping. They were moving everything away from the foundation and setting it aside to where someone was going to burn it.

“You are going to set something on fire?” Stiles blurted before he could stop himself.

Derek shook his head, “I hired someone to come out and burn what they need to, to discard what they can. I am doing the manual labor because I kind of feel like I have to.”

Stiles nodded, “I remember when my mom died, my dad felt like it was his responsibility to clear out her stuff. To put aside what he and I wanted to keep and donate the rest. It was like, he couldn’t stand the idea of letting someone else come into their space even though he felt guilty about it. Is it like that?”

Derek shrugged, “Maybe, I just feel like putting my hands on this is better than some stranger. Whether I like to think of it or not, this is the final resting place of my family and I wanted to remember that, even though it hurts to do this.”

Stiles nodded and they continued working in silence for a couple hours. They stopped for lunch, which the betas brought out for both of them, some sandwiches and potato salad to which Derek grumbled about it not tasting good. Stiles offered to eat his share while Isaac and Erica tittered at them.

After they finished eating, the betas left and Stiles continued working for a few more hours before he moved away and patted Derek’s shoulder, “I think I’m going to head out, let my dad know where I was and make sure that he eats something homemade rather than drive-thru created.”

Derek nodded, “Thanks for the help. Maybe you want to come back tomorrow?”

Stiles smiled, “Sure.”

Derek nodded and turned back to what he was doing, Stiles spoke before he had a chance to chicken out, “You’re not staying here at night are you?”

He shrugged and Stiles groaned, “Please tell me the truth. Are you sleeping here?”

Derek nodded, “Yes, but not here, I’ve been staying in a small shack that I had carted in, it’s not much but all I’ve been doing there is sleeping and using the outhouse. I’ve been showering in the river, it’s all very rustic.”

Stiles nodded, “Oh, okay. That’s better than you sleeping in the remains of this mess.”

Derek growled, “It’s not really any of your business where I sleep. Why do you care?”

Stiles shoved his hands into his pockets, “Maybe I give a damn about you. Is that so bad?”

Derek looked around and waved his hands in a very Stiles-esque manner, “Maybe not but I haven’t really had someone being my friend without owing something in return and I can’t afford any more of that.”

“What about the betas?” Stiles demanded.

“They are my betas; we are responsible for each other. That is a give and take that the pack bond demands and it goes both ways. I can’t owe you anything Stiles.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Well you don’t,” he turned, grabbed his jacket and got into the jeep and drove away carefully, stewing in frustration. Derek might have been a little more hopeful when he was singing the previous day but apparently that didn’t fix all the stupid emotional crap he was still dealing with.

Stiles made it home and started dinner while he muttered about stupid emotionally defunct sourwolves while he made meatloaf and some garlic bread. He ate with his dad in sullen silence until the Sheriff finally demanded, “What’s going on kiddo?”

“What?” Stiles startled, “Oh, nothing.”

Dad’s response was a sad sigh, like he was expecting that answer but hoped for something else. Hope in the face of more pain, Stiles thought. Hope was a dangerous thing, especially when there was a habit of lies already there.

Dad was opening a door of communication in desperation even though Stiles had spent the last ten months lying to him. Stiles squared his shoulders then leaned closer and spoke, “I think I care about someone who isn’t capable of seeing the good in people anymore.”

Dad frowned, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, life has kicked him in the balls a thousand times and I helped a couple times and now when I was just trying to be a friend, he said we couldn’t be friends because he couldn’t afford to have another relationship based on a debt.”

Dad crossed his arms, “Are you seeking friendship to get something back?’

Stiles had an instant denial on his tongue but stopped, _did he want something from Derek other than friendship?_ Maybe, but maybe not. He just wanted to know what was helping Derek come away from the anger and move towards hope again. And maybe, he wanted to be a part of that, the werewolf’s recovery. “He’s like this really good guy and I guess I just wanted to be closer to him. I wanted to see what was making him get better.”

Dad nodded, “Stiles?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“Are you talking about Derek Hale?”

Stiles froze, answering his father’s very educated guess before he could deny it.

Dad rubbed his face, “Stiles, I am more than a little concerned that you are befriending the guy who has been in trouble with the law a couple times, an interested person in the murder of his own sister.”

Stiles nodded, saying nothing. He couldn’t argue with his dad about this, his dad didn’t know the whole story.

“He’s older than you, he could buy beer and so on. That’s more than a little concerning.”

“You think I am going to use him to buy beer?”

Dad shrugged, “Maybe not, but he could do it. There are so many reasons I should be telling you to stay the hell away from Derek Hale,”

Stiles noticed the chink in the armor almost before Dad finished speaking, “Should be?” he questioned.

Dad groaned and rubbed his neck again before letting his hand slide back down to flop in his lap, “I remember Derek and Laura after the fire. I remember what they were like when we pulled them away from the house, and later when they saw Peter at the hospital. I don’t understand to this day how he could have survived but he did and it destroyed them. Derek was never going to be the same and a part of me wishes that I had brought him home with me so they wouldn’t have to leave town alone and broken. If your mother had been alive, she would have made me bring them home.”

“You wanted to bring them home?”

Dad nodded, “Or at least made sure that they didn’t have to leave home. I wanted to offer them protection. So maybe, you’re a good kid and he needs to see that it’s possible.”

“Maybe I’m a good kid?” Stiles asked with a laugh.

Dad gave him a look, “You know what I mean. Even though I can’t go back and do anything for him when it mattered, maybe you can be the kind of friend he needs so desperately.”

“Even if it’s not completely altruistic?” Stiles asked.

“How much we talkin’ about here?” Dad asked.

“About ten percent selfishness curiosity and ninety percent just wanna be his friend and help him.”

“I’d take those odds,” Dad said with a smirk and a shrug.

“Okay, thanks Dad.”

Stiles was about to get up and take the dishes to the sink but Dad put a staying hand on his arm and Stiles waited. Dad spoke, “One of these days you are going to have to start telling me the whole truth again, thanks for starting with this.”

Stiles squirmed under Dad’s parental pride and the large heap of guilt for not being honest about the rest. He nodded and patted Dad’s hand before he carried all the dishes over to the sink. Then he made a hasty retreat up to his room and closed the door on a sigh.

“That went well,” he whispered, pulling out his phone and started listening to the recordings he made of Derek’s songs as he settled on his bed and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t going to be perfect but he could be the best damn friend a Sourwolf ever had. Maybe he could even get Scott and Derek to be friends though Stiles was sure that it wasn’t going to happen while Derek was cleaning up the debris from the demolished Hale house. Maybe after that part was done. Maybe.

 

The next couple weeks, Stiles had a nice rhythm to his week and weekends. Monday through Thursday he would help Derek at the Hale house, first with clearing out all the debris and then as the foundation is relayed, he was there to help Derek with anything else he could get his hands on. On Friday, Derek, the betas and Stiles would have a pizza and movie night and once Scott even graced them with his presence. And no bloodshed happened, it was a fair-sized miracle.

Saturday was always Scott and Stiles day; they did any number of things. They would play video games or practice lacrosse, even spending time with Lydia, Danny, Allison and Jackson happened. There was pretty hideous bowling to be had, which was a joy for nobody but Stiles laughed so hard at the fact that Allison kicked their asses and did it with all the humility of a saint.

Sunday, the evening was going to Derek’s show and the day was any number of things. Sometimes he played with Scott, sometimes we went over to the Loft to see Derek and the betas and sometimes he just watched tv with his dad. It really depended on the week.

Then when the walls and the ceiling were on the Hale house, everything picked up steam, there was a lot more work to be done and though Stiles wasn’t allowed around any tools, he was there to help. Erica, Boyd and Isaac were there every day, enjoying the prospect of helping their alpha with the den that would belong in part to all of them, Jackson and Scott showed up every once in a while, to help or mock, depending on their mood and Stiles found himself making the trek out to the Preserve on the weekends as well.

On one such occasion, Stiles was sitting with the betas and laughing at Isaac’s atrocious impressions of some of their teachers at school when he looked around and realized that Derek was gone.

“Where did Derek go?” he asked the others.

“He left a little while ago, he needed to shower and change for some meeting. He’s been going to them for a while now,” Erica answered, rolling her eyes at the idea of a meeting every week. Stiles cursed, realizing what meeting Derek was heading to and made a hasty retreat.

“Sorry, I have to go meet up with my dad,” he lied poorly to the ‘boos’ of the crowd as he jumped into the jeep and took off. He should just skip going to The Raven, this was a horrible idea but listening to Derek sing had quickly become an obsession, a _Lydia-type obsession_ and this one made Stiles’s obsession with her look normal and tame. Stiles couldn’t miss Derek’s performance, he still thought that it was the only time Derek really dropped his guard and Stiles couldn’t imagine missing it.

He made the drive in less time than usual and parked right across from the bar before casting the spell and rushing towards the door. The guy let him in, frowning a little at him like his ID was questionable which shouldn’t have been an issue since he’d gotten a better one to make these weekly pilgrimages and he’d been here so many times he would be considered a regular at this point.

Derek was already on stage, singing to the star struck crowd and Stiles found himself being drawn to the front of the room instead of his normal back of the building booth. He walked up to the edge of the crowd who were saying to the song Derek was singing. This one sounded good, a little closer to happy than Stiles thought Derek was actually capable of being. His eyes were closed and he was pressing up close to the mic but not touching it and his fingers were strumming gracefully across the strings. Stiles couldn’t seem to stop himself from nudging through the crowd, called in like a sailor hearing a siren and not caring that he was about to crash upon the rocks.

Somehow, he convinced his lust addled brain to stop before he was right in front of Derek, moving off to the side while he tugged his phone out of his pocket and setting it to record. He kept the phone away from his body but discreet because he didn’t want to get kicked of out of the Supernatural Club because someone thought he was taking pictures of the customers. Everyone came to The Raven for a sense of anonymity and freedom.

Stiles got there in time for most of the songs and when Derek finished the last one, Stiles took a step back like he was going to turn away but then he opened his eyes and Stiles froze.

Derek was look right at him, more accurately Derek was looking at Stiles’s ‘Stud Muffin’ shirt which he forgot to change out of because he was late. Derek’s brows pinched together as he put the guitar down (apparently it lived in the bar so Derek didn’t have to explain its presence at the loft) and strode off the stage. Derek moved in a beeline straight to Stiles and he grabbed Stiles’s arm and dragged him through the door Derek usually disappeared through and _nobody_ called for an encore this time.

Derek slammed the door behind them and spun around, “Stiles?” he gritted out.

“Yeah,” Stiles gulped; he’d been lying all this time. He’d been seeing Derek’s singing for months now and he couldn’t bring himself to even try to hide the truth. He had another hour before the spell wore off but Stiles usually wore Scott’s clothes to this weekly event for a reason.

Everyone knew the kinds of unique fashion Stiles wore, especially Derek.

“Why do you smell like that? Like a wolf and like a stranger?” Derek demanded, wrinkling his nose.

Stiles waved his hands; I found a spell that would change my scent and obscure my features and allow me to fade into the background or into a group. It’s not perfect and clearly I didn’t change my clothes like I normally do and I am so busted here, aren’t I?”

“Busted for what? What are you doing here Stiles?”

Stiles shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious suddenly, “I come to hear you sing.”

Derek stared at him, “How did you even find out about this? How did you get in?”

Stiles shuffled from one foot, back to the other, back and forth a couple times, “Can we maybe go sit down and have a soda or something while we talk about this?”

Derek shook his head, “I don’t sit here. I don’t do anything here but sing. We can go for a walk or something.”

Stiles nodded and they took off through the backstage door and Stiles walked next to the werewolf for a few minutes before he dove into the story, “I realized you were leaving at the same time every week and I was curious.”

“Curious?” Derek snorted, “Why am I not surprised?”

“Yeah so I followed you here and then brought Scott and he got me in the door. I didn’t know anything about the supernatural thing, it was just that I didn’t want to go into that place without some backup.”

“Thank god for some common sense,” Derek grumbled.

“Then I found a spell that would obscure my face and scent. I swear I just wanted to know what you were doing there and why you would be going to it every week.”

“So? That was tonight?” Derek asked.

Stiles took a deep breath, “No, that was like three months ago. When I heard you singing for the first time, I couldn’t stop coming here. I just grab a soda and listen and then leave. When the songs started sounding a little hopeful, I wanted to find out if there was something going on and I found out about the house and I wanted to help. This wasn’t really supposed to happen like this, I should have just told you but I just liked knowing a little something about you. And I felt _everything_ when you sing and I couldn’t give it up.”

It took a minute to realize Derek wasn’t walking with him anymore, paused on the sidewalk a little back and staring off into the distance. Stiles turned back and took several steps towards Derek when he turned and locked their gazes. Stiles froze at the hurt he could see there.

“I didn’t want anyone to know about this, its private! I mean, what the fuck Stiles!”

Stiles flinched; he couldn’t stop it. Derek was hurt and he didn’t want that to be the case, Stiles wanted this to lead to some weird layer of trust between them and maybe Stiles was selfish about listening to Derek sing but everything else; that had been about showing Derek that he didn’t have to be alone.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you, that was the exact opposite of what I wanted.”

“What the hell did you expect?” Derek took a menacing step closer, hands up like he was seriously considering choking Stiles. “You followed me! You stalked me basically which I know makes me sound like a hypocrite because I spent a lot of time last year stalking you and Scott but seriously Stiles—why couldn’t you just leave it alone?”

 Stiles shrugged, flapping his arms a little, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Derek demanded.

“I wanted to keep listening to you, I wanted to be your friend.”

“Well, you can’t be my friend and you can’t be here anymore!”

With that, Derek walked away from Stiles, leaving him on the side of the road alone in the darkness and he heaved a sigh. Stiles turned around and tried to find the bar again to figure out where the jeep was.

Stiles didn’t see it and started back the way he came, hunching his shoulders and holding his sweater close. When did it get so cold out here? Stiles rubbed his hands together, trying to get some warmth back into them after Derek’s angry and hurt brush off left him feeling wrong and sideways.

He knew that following Derek around and pushing himself into a private experience by a person who was emotionally stunted by a world of shit that he didn’t deserve was going to end badly. _He knew that!_ It still hurt so bad, knowing that Derek was going to stop coming on this night every week and the thought of Derek not having this catharsis hurt even more.

He tugged his cell phone out of his pocket and sent Derek a quick message, _‘Don’t stop singing, I won’t come back here and I won’t come out to the house anymore unless you decide that it’s okay.’_

Then he turned off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, Stiles didn’t think he could deal with a text rejection or some sort of proof that Derek blocked his number, there was a good chance that Derek would just discard the phone and buy a new one.

“So,” a voice called out from the dark recess of one of the nearby buildings, “You know Derek Hale?”

Stiles turned to see who it was and wondered who else knew Derek was here then something struck him across the head and everything went dark.

 

Derek threw open the loft door and it slammed back on the end of the track, grinding a little and causing all the betas to flinch where they are snuggled up together on the couch.

“Derek? What’s wrong?” Isaac asked, he was always the first to ask and the first to offer comfort. Derek assumed it was left over from having a father he was desperate to have love him. He could use his sense of smell better than any of the others.

“Stiles is an asshole!” Derek returned quickly.

Erica snorted while Isaac chuckled and Boyd shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure it’s coming from a good place, no matter how much of an ass he is,” Boyd responded.

Derek rubbed a hand through his hair then plunked himself onto one of the open chairs. “I don’t want him here!”

Now they were frowning at him, mouths opening to demand answers, none of which he could really give. No one knew about the singing or The Raven or ‘Darren’ and he wasn’t going to tell them now. Derek walked over to the bed and grabbed his duffel bag before heading back towards the door again, “I’m going to the Preserve. Just, I will see you all tomorrow.”

Derek could feel their eyes burning into the back of his head but he ignored them and went back to the Camaro and drove out to the Preserve and dropped the duffel back in the small shack that he slept in and went back to work on some of the flooring in the house. The walls and ceiling were finished and they were working on interior walls and the plumbing. Derek just got to work and tried to ignore all the feelings that he was used to shoving down unless he was singing. Stiles was right about that; the singing was something he needed and it was important. The Rave offered him the freedom to seek some sort of therapy for all the things that happened to him.

He got Stiles’s last text and he knew the teenager wasn’t lying but he was going to be changing his night after taking a couple weeks off. The people who come to hear him would just have to change their schedule or just not come. He never really cared about if people heard him or not, as long as he sang.

Derek would make the call to the manager about bumping his spot tomorrow after he’d had a chance to work through some of the shame and confusion of being caught out in his vulnerability by someone he knew. Derek loved singing covers because he could give into the feelings and the people in the audience might be able to guess about certain things but they _wouldn’t know._ Derek needed people in the audience to _not know_!

Derek dropped the flooring he was holding and grappled with the wall behind him before sliding to the floor and screamed into the enclosed space of the entry. Stiles would tell someone. He would make this into a joke and there wasn’t any way Derek could deal with his weaknesses being put on display. He needed to come up with some excuse for Stiles not being allowed at the loft anymore, he’d become sort of like Pack and now he was going to just be gone. For all of them.

And he didn’t want to be the kind of alpha he was in the beginning, throwing out demands and beating the betas into submission. His mother was never that kind of alpha and Derek wouldn’t be either. Not if he could help it.

Derek sat there, screaming until his throat was raw and crying until he was cried out. All the feelings that he hated to admit to because the last time he’d trusted someone with everything inside himself, it killed his family. The time before that, it killed the innocent girl that he loved. There was nothing he could give without everything being taken away.

 _Get a hold of yourself Derek!_ He told himself over and over while he cried himself out and finally, he leaned his head against the wall, closed his eyes and let himself fade into the comforting lie of sleep.

When Derek woke up with a crick in his neck, he was mostly rested and willing to deal with the world again as well as any ramifications of Stiles’s big mouth.

He grabbed something quick to eat from the shack and started working on the house again, the betas came over around lunch time and he waved them off to jobs in the house. Derek bit the bullet and asked Boyd, “Did Stiles come by?”

Boyd shook his head, “Why would he? I thought you said he wasn’t going to be welcome anymore? Did you tell us that but not him?”

Derek shrugged and said nothing since he still didn’t have a good reason or excuse, plus they would know he was lying. “Well you know Stiles, doesn’t know when he’s outstayed his welcome even when someone tells him.”

Boyd shrugged it off and walked into the next room to start laying tile pieces. Derek didn’t think anything of it for a few hours, the manual labor helping to clear out the cobwebs of thoughts and fears and the longer Stiles kept quiet the more he thought maybe Stiles would respect his privacy.

The next three days passed in strange silence without Stiles’s rampant words and constant energy and Derek realized that he missed it. Like an idiot, he missed the guy who lied to him, spied on him and ingratiated himself into the pack for what appeared to be selfish reasons. He missed Stiles wondering about things, telling him stupid facts about ridiculous subjects that Derek didn’t think he cared about. He missed Stiles’s comforting heartbeat and scent in the house.

Derek couldn’t let him back in though, not when Stiles knew something that _no one else could know._

Lunch rolled around and the betas were getting ready to go see some matinee movie they invited him too but he said no. to which they rolled their eyes and helped to finish up their last-minute chores around the house. All of them tilted towards the sound of a car and a motorbike coming towards the house and walked together to the door.

“That’s the Sheriff’s cruiser and Scott’s bike,” Isaac told them unnecessarily just before they came to a halt in front of the house. Scott turned off the motor bike and got off so quickly it almost toppled over on him. It took him another second to right it and himself and by that time, Sheriff Stilinski was walking up to Derek with an intense look.

“Sheriff, can I help you with something? Maybe a murder you need to pin on someone?” Derek asked innocently, he knew the man had only been doing his job but being arrested for his sister’s murder still rankled sometimes.

Stilinski didn’t rise to the bait and Derek was suddenly struck with the scents rolling off him. He smelled like fear and anxiety and he spoke and Derek understood why, “Have you seen Stiles? I know he’s been working here a lot. I figured he was either staying here or gaming with Scott.”

Derek shook his head and looked to Scott who looked spooked, “You haven’t seen him?’

“Not since before his normal Sunday night thing,” Scott responded. “He texted me to ask if I wanted to hang out today and then I couldn’t get a hold of him. I was hoping maybe he’d be here.”

“He’s not. No one has seen him since Sunday?” he asked, looking to the betas.

They shook their heads and Stilinski cursed, “I should have come asking about him yesterday when I didn’t see him. We might not see each other every day but we both make a commitment to having dinner every other night. Fuck! FUCK!”

Derek flinched in the face of Stilinski’s anger but the fear was so much louder and stronger. He stepped down off the porch, holding his hands out towards the Sheriff, “We are going to help you find him. I promise. We are going to figure this out.”

Stilinksi glared at him, “What are you going to do that an entire Sheriff’s Department can’t do? Just let me know if you hear from him.”

Derek nodded and took the card he was holding out and then he walked back to the cruiser, cursing the entire way leaving behind the scent of tears and pain. It was a scent that Derek hadn’t scented for a long time, the same kind of fear and pain when someone loses family. He remembered when Laura and he were standing there, knowing that their family members were gone and it was the same smell.

He couldn’t let that stand, not Stiles. Stiles couldn’t be gone. Who would take him? Once the Sheriff was gone, Scott walked over and nervously rubbed the back of his neck, “You really don’t know where he is?”

Derek shook his head, “We had an argument on Sunday night and I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore. He wouldn’t stay away though,” it wasn’t a question, with the supernatural shit that happened in this town everyone was very careful about staying in contact with each other. Derek got used to the jangle of Stiles messaging him when Stiles was planning to come over. Or when he wondered what they were going to do on the house that day.

Derek took a deep breath, “I can go back to The Raven and see if they saw or scented anything. I know it’s been a couple days but that’s the last time and place I saw him. We need to see what is there.”

Scott nodded.

“The Raven?” Boyd asked and Scott frowned at the betas who were all looking very confused by the mention.

“You don’t know about Derek going there? I don’t know what he does there but Stiles goes there all the time.”

Derek snarled at all of them, “Shut up Scott! I will go to The Raven and see if anyone knows anything. See if we can help the Sheriff in anyway. Maybe he just took off.”

Scott started shaking his head before Derek was even done speaking, “He wouldn’t do that. His dad and I, he always lets us know where he’s going.”

“Then why didn’t you figure out he was missing two days ago?” Derek sneered.

Scott squirmed, “Honestly with the California sized crush he has on you, I figured he was just living in your pocket here.”

Derek frowned and then shook his head, walking away. He headed over to the Camaro, hearing as Isaac loped after him. “Derek?” he asked.

“What Isaac?” he asked, making sure that he didn’t growl at his beta. Despite the violence Isaac enjoyed inflicting, he was still an abuse victim and he flinched away from Derek when he growled. Derek didn’t want him to be scared of speaking to his alpha.

“Whatever you do there, at the Raven, it’s not going to change how we feel about you as a friend and our alpha.”

Derek smiled a little, patted the teenager’s shoulder, “Thank you, this is just something I didn’t want everyone knowing about. I needed something private in my life.”

Isaac nodded and clasped Derek’s hand at his shoulder, “We’re going to find him and then you can apologize for kicking him out of the pack over something so small.”

Derek stared at his retreating form with his mouth ajar before he shook it off and slid into the Camaro and started the car. What the hell kind of trouble had Stiles gotten into? And what did Scott mean, ‘California size crush’? There wouldn’t be any answers until they figured out where the kid went off to.

He headed straight to the bar and hoped they would find something.

 

Stiles didn’t even raise his head when the door opened, curling up on his side with his back to the wall. They were just delivering something to eat and though his stomach clenched at the scent of the soup that was on the tray but didn’t want to take the chance that they drugged it again. Waking up naked and spread eagle with some assholes hands all over him was not something he wanted to repeat.

They hadn’t raped him but it seemed to have been the plan for the creeper that was standing over him. Stiles had screamed in the person’s face and they reared back shocked. He gripped his hands together at his chest, shivering at the cold and the hunger.

“You should eat, if you die before the alpha finds you then this will have all been for nothing,” the person said from the doorway before they slammed it and Stiles stayed on the cot. He wasn’t going to die if he didn’t eat, not yet anyway. He’d eaten the day before.

Instead of wondering what they were going to do to him, Stiles closed his eyes and imagined himself back in The Raven, listening to Derek while he was singing. He could see Derek holding the guitar close to his chest, like it was going to protect him from the rest of the world and the audience’s reaction. He usually kept his eyes on the strings he strummed or closed while he was singing, which is why Stiles had gotten away with his ruse for so long. Well that and the fact that Derek walked off stage and just left, instead of looking around or conversing with anyone.

Stiles hadn’t planned on snooping for months but Derek’s voice was beautiful, the emotions he gave the audience through song was sublime and Stiles was not looking forward to going back to living a life without hearing it. At least he had copies of Derek’s songs on his phone and saved many of them to a cloud service.

One of the best things about listening to Derek sing was that he’d been able to _see_ and hear when he was no longer living in the anger and pain of the past. Sure, the angry songs still happened, but they’d been paired with hope and peace even in the later months.

When Stiles started working on the Hale house together, he wondered, he hoped that someday he would be able to talk about everything with Derek but he’d been stupid enough to get caught and now, if he survived being kidnapped by someone looking to mess with Derek, it wasn’t going to happen. Derek was never going to trust him now.

Though, if he died here then Stiles wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not Derek forgave him. Though Stiles couldn’t stand the idea that if he died his father and Scott weren’t going to handle it well. His dad would be alone and Stiles hated that enough to keep fighting.

“They are going to come get me, I have to believe that,” Stiles whispered and turned away from the smell and sight of food and tried to sleep.

Minutes or hours passed for Stiles and he didn’t know which was which anymore. Someone came and cleared out the food that he hadn’t touched, leaving the bottle of water in its place. Stiles stumbled off the cot and crawled over the space of his cage and picked up the bottle. He took a deep breath and released it in a relieved sigh that turned into a coughing fit. He groaned, holding his stomach for a moment before he spun open the lid and smiled at the sound of seal opening before guzzling down half the bottle and carefully recapping it. Stiles flopped down on the ground and hoped that his dad and his supernatural buds were working the problem right now.

 

Derek pulled the Camaro up in front of The Raven and got out, jerking the keys from the ignition in a way that would have made his father and sister wince. He slammed the door and walked into the bar, no one stopped him as he walked over to the bartender, “The guy that I dragged out of here last Sunday? Did you see him after that?”

The tender shook his head, “Nope. I figured you would have just taken him home. He’s obsessed with you, only comes in when you’re going to be here.”

Derek shook his head, “Do you have any cameras of the back entrance and out front?”

He nodded, “You are going to have to speak to the owner about that, she doesn’t really like letting anyone into her office so I don’t think you should hold your breath about getting any help.”

“Where?” Derek demanded, brushing off the warning.

The guy waved to the door off the side of the stage and he strode over and his hand came up to knock when it opened and a young woman stood in the doorway and raised a curious brow, “Can I help you with something?”

“My name is Derek…”

She raised her hand to interrupt, “Hale, I know. I also know your stage name and all that, obviously. I make it my business to know all of the people who come in to my bar, let alone the ones that perform here. Now, I will ask one more time; what do you want?”

“There was a person coming here, someone who was only coming here to see me. I figured out who he was this last Sunday and I took him out the back way and there’s a chance that he was abducted from here. No one has seen him since.”

“If it didn’t happen in my bar,” the woman started, buffing her nails on her shoulder, “Then it’s hardly my business.”

“He’s the Sheriff’s son and I don’t want to bring him here but I will if I need to.”

She frowned, “Are you threatening this establishment?”

Derek shook his head, “No but I am letting you know that finding this person is more important to a lot of people than this place. A lot of stubborn people who are willing to destroy the world to get him back.”

“Including you?” she asked, smirking.

Derek growled at the question, “I need to look at any video surveillance or speak to anyone who may have been here that night and may have seen or heard anything weird.”

She moved from the door and invited him in, “My name is Kali, I used to be an alpha werewolf, like you. I guess I can understand the loss you feel when a pack mate is lost or missing.”

Derek nodded, not correcting her, “Nice to meet you.”

Kali opened another door in the room and there was a bay of computer screens as well as another young woman who was sitting in the room. Derek’s nose wrinkled at the scent of magic being contained in the room. He frowned at Kali who shrugged, “This is a supernatural bar, I use whatever means necessary. This was my emissary and girlfriend, Julia. She decided to stay with me after I lost my pack,” Kali leaned down and pressed a kiss to the other woman’s forehead.

“What kind of surveillance do you have for outside the bar?” Derek asked them both, not knowing who he should be speaking to but also knowing that whether or not Kalia was still an alpha, she would be protective of her mate.

Julia waved to all the monitors, “There are several per side of the building as well as some that just keep an eye on the back of the building in case someone decides to use our sanctuary for something nefarious.”

“Like kidnapping a teenage boy who is also the son of a sheriff?” Derek reiterated.

Julia frowned at him, “Was he using some kind of spell?”

Derek nodded, “It kind of made him smell unrecognizable and it made his appearance wobbly. It’s really hard to describe, I only ever saw it once.”

 Julia nodded, “I knew someone was using magic but it was such a small amount and we weren’t having any issues, so I made a note of it and moved on to other things. I didn’t realize he was underage though. And human. Pretty good spell if he was getting in here every week.”

Derek shrugged, “He’s pretty stubborn, found something that he could use over and over, it had some sort of time limit on it and I think he was usually wearing someone else’s clothes so I wouldn’t recognize him. He was wearing this stupid ‘Stud Muffin’ shirt where it said ‘stud’ and there was a picture of a muffin underneath. He was here, listening to me sing on Sunday night. I think he came in later than he normally does but it wasn’t until after the performance that he disappeared.”

Julia was looking through all the footage as Derek was speaking, Derek watched when she latched on to a screen with Stiles on it and Derek took a deep breath at the look of adoration and respect, he could see on the human’s face. Stiles really did love listening to him sing, and he’d been listening for months and hadn’t said anything. Maybe he’d overreacted to Stiles being there?

Then Derek watched himself get off the stage and drag Stiles through to the back. A couple seconds later they were looking at the argument that took place outside and Derek watched as he walked away and Stiles turned and then fell out of frame.

“What was that?” Derek asked.

“Someone hit him,” Julia said, rewinding the video and pointed out the movement in the corner of the shot. “The attacker knows where the cameras are but they didn’t count on a witch being here.”

Julia stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Kali staring after her with a sweet smile and Derek staring between the two of them in surprise. Julia turned back around and waved for Derek to follow so he jerked forward to do so. They walked through the back door and around to the side where Stiles would have been standing and Julia started muttering under her breath. Derek watched her for a few minutes until something, some shadowy figures started to appear and he frowned as Stiles and himself came into view. He listened to himself telling Stiles that he wasn’t allowed to be his friend.

“Harsh,” Julia muttered.

Derek growled but kept his eyes on the memory of Stiles. He stood there silent for a few moments then he took out his phone and text Derek that last message and then turned off his phone. That explained why the Sheriff hadn’t just pinged his son’s phone. Then someone spoke, “So, you know Derek Hale?”

Stiles turned around and he was struck across the face by something hard, Derek flinched as he fell and watched as Julia focused the memory while the person lifted to pick Stiles up from the ground and Derek stumbled back towards the wall of the building, covering his mouth in shock. Julia gasped as well before she rushed back inside, leaving Derek with the flash in his mind of Deucalion, one of his mom’s fellow alphas.

Why would he take Stiles? Why would he care about Derek? What the fuck was going on here?

Kali came out to him a few minutes later and dragged Derek to his feet before bringing him back into the bar and sitting him down in one of the booths. He didn’t say anything, just kept looking down at his hands, at the table and imagined Stiles sitting here just enjoying Derek singing and he’d been kidnapped, maybe even hurt because of that.

“Derek,” Kali said and he looked up,

“What?”

“Deucalion is well known in the supernatural circles for something in particular. He likes to collect alphas, make them kill their own pack and then he makes them follow him around for the rest of their natural lives.”

“How would you know that?” Derek asked.

“Because he tried to do it to my pack, when he forced me to kill one of my own, I fought back. It wasn’t enough, the rest of my pack scattered except for Julia who used her powers to remove my alpha ability. We share the power to keep this place safe and running but I can’t take on Deucalion. Julia might be able to help you get a location but I won’t be able to fight with you on this.”

Derek nodded, “He took Stiles because he wants to control me?”

Kalia took a deep breath, “Maybe, apparently Deucalion knew you were coming here but he couldn’t take you on here.”

Derek swallowed, a lump in his throat making it hard to do so, “I need to get him back.”

Kali nodded, “Get Julia’s cell phone number, when you are ready to go hunting you can give her a call, plus she might need something of this Stiles person to make a locator something or other work.”

Derek nodded, scribbling down his number and taking a scrap from the witch before he walked out to the Camaro and started back towards Beacon Hills. How was he going to explain this to the Sheriff? And how was he going to take on Deucalion, someone who was strong enough to be an ally of his mother’s as well as forced other people to kill their pack members.

 

Derek called a meeting as soon as he was back in town and set up to meet at the loft since it was in town and clean. Erica, Isaac and Boyd got there quickly, followed by Lydia, Allison and Scott. He called the Sheriff as well but didn’t really know what he was going to say, besides the whole truth.

When the Sheriff arrived and walked in with Melissa behind him Derek sighed, he should have known that getting anything past Scott’s mom was going to be basically impossible. She knew about everything; she may even be a help with the Sheriff.

“What is all this about Derek?” Sheriff asked.

“Well, I went to The Raven to retrace Stiles’s steps and I found out who took him but that’s the good news, the rest of it is bad news, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?” Stilinski demanded.

“Well, that’s going to require a little bit of background information.” Derek paused for a moment, looking at Melissa who had this knowing look on her face so he jumped in, “Stiles was taken by an alpha werewolf, someone who is much stronger than me and it seems he may have been taken as insurance against me. Though I still don’t really understand why.”

Stilinski frowned at him, tilting his head in confusion then he snorted, “I appreciate the humor but now isn’t really the time.”

Derek looked at Scott and motioned, the kid nodded and stepped into Stilinski’s line of sight and allowed his beta shift to roll over him, the sideburns, the elongated teeth and the ears. Stilinski watched for a moment before he jumped back and pulled his gun. Melissa moved in front of her son quickly.

“Noah,” she coaxed, “He’s not going to hurt you, none of them are going to hurt you.”

“What the fuck is that?” Stilinski demanded.

“He’s a werewolf,” Melissa murmured gently and walked towards Noah and placed a hand on the top of his gun. Stilinski lowered his weapons but kept his finger on the trigger and his eyes on Scott.

Stilinski took a deep breath, shook off the fear with aplomb and stated, “That explains a lot in this town.”

Erica laughed, “I like him, definitely related to Stiles.”

Stilinski glanced over at her and then looked back at Scott who was returning to his human form then looked at Derek again, "Your sister and you?”

Derek nodded, “We were born werewolves, our whole family was.”

Stilinksi nodded, “Okay then, so my son has been lying to me about this and now he’s been kidnapped because of it. He’s getting so grounded when he comes home.”

Derek gestured to the open chairs and Stilinski moved to sit again, though he maintained a goodly distance, not a surprise. Derek leaned forward and rubbed his face before looking around, “I have someone who may be able to track Stiles’s location but we are going to need a plan. From what I know of this guy, he likes to collect other alphas so we wouldn’t really know what we were stepping into but Stiles needs to be saved. We gotta figure this out.”

Stilinski looked around the room and frowned, “You find a location and I am going to slam down the door with my Sheriff’s badge and get my goddamned son back.”

“I might be able to get my dad to help,” Allison said and everyone looked at her.

Derek nodded, Allison might have done some shitty things to the pack but they were going to need Argent’s people and their tools. He checked on Isaac, Boyd and Erica and they were nodding agreement. All of them were willing to do what needed to be done to get Stiles back. Maybe this was going to be the thing that brings them all together.

“So, I think the best thing we can do right now is get the Argents in on this, I will get a location and we will head to the place in a couple hours. I know that it is probably really compelling to just take off right now but if we get killed then we can’t save Stiles.”

 

Stiles swayed on the cot, trying not to fall off. He was so tired but every time he tried to sleep, someone would slam on the door or come in to shake him awake. After the tenth or hundredth time in as many hours Stiles screamed.

One of his captors came into the room and picked him up, “Shut up!”

“Just let me go! Weren’t you listening? Derek doesn’t care about me; you could just go and I will go home and nothing will happen to you. Please!” Stiles sobbed.

“I think you matter more than you say,” someone said from the doorway and the person holding him dropped Stiles back on the cot again.

Stiles snorted, “I am amazingly unimportant to Derek Hale. He wanted to never see me again, he didn’t even know I was coming to see him until that night you took me. Just let me go!” Stiles choked out again.

The guy at the door chuckled then something rang maybe a cellphone which made Stiles wonder where his was. The guy next to the door, answered and Stiles listened as he stepped out of the door and started to close it.

“What is it?” he demanded,

Someone on the other end of the call spoke briskly and the man sighed, leaving the door to Stiles’s cell open as he said, “Are you sure? He’s the son of a sheriff? Well that might be more noise than I was looking for so soon in my bid to take on Hale.”

The other person spoke again and the captor hummed, “Well I guess the little squirt is going to get what he wants after all.”

Stiles stumbled off the cot, moving towards the door but it slammed and Stiles sobbed, leaning into the door and bashing at it, “Let me go! Please just let me go home to my father. He’s the Sheriff, I heard you. He’s going to bring guns and deputies and I bet they are going to shoot first and ask questions never!”

No one spoke, leaving Stiles in darkness and silence again.

“At least tell me that you didn’t destroy my phone! Fuckers!”

He stumbled back over to the cot and slumped on the ground next to it, reaching his hands under the edge until he found the water bottle, they brought him however long ago and guzzled the two swallows that were left inside and dropped it next to him. Listening to it in the darkness, as it rolled away from his leg was oddly soothing. He settled his head back uncomfortably on the cot and let his mind wander back to working with Derek on the house. He’d never really ever experienced something like that, seeing something come together from the foundation and up.

Derek did so much of the work and Stiles had asked him at one point why he was doing it, especially after the third or fourth time he jammed his thumb with something. He’d been cursing in momentary pain while Stiles winced sympathetically.

Derek said at the time, “My great-great-great-grandfather and his pack helped to build the original house and each generation would build on it, changing something or adding to it somehow. Hales have been bleeding and aching for each other in this house and on this land, it’s something we can never undo but it is a tradition that I didn’t want to ignore. My mother and father had been planning an extension because so many people were staying in the house and it was fit to burst,” Derek smiled at this and Stiles stared in awe of it.

Derek was willing to hurt and bleed for his family home, for the pack to have a place that was theirs. Stiles had always known that Derek was more than the Sourwolf he appeared to be, with the growling and the threats and the eyebrows but to have it actually be stated and seen, Stiles hadn’t ever imagined that he would be privy to it.

He’d been lucky to be there and Derek’s singing had proven Stiles’s guess, that Derek hadn’t always just been a Sourwolf. He’d been a passionate person, willing and capable of sharing himself. Then life kicked him in the nuts to many times and he stopped letting people in.

Stiles must have fallen asleep during his musings because the next thing he knew there were several crashes in the vicinity. He blinked awake and scooted away from the cot, into one of the cell’s corners so he couldn’t be caught by surprise. It was the only logical thought he could have as his vision swam and his heart hammered. Over and over, all he could think and say, “I wanna go home, I wanna go home, I wanna go home.”

Another door slammed and people were shouting and after a couple of seconds someone shouted, “Stiles!”

“Wha?” Stiles responded, sure that he’d misheard. The people watching him were not going to fold that easily and it couldn’t be someone who was there to save him.

Right?

Maybe.

“Stiles! Where are you?” someone shouted and Stiles shook his head.

“Hello?” he asked, trying to shout even though his throat was raw from all the screaming he’d already done.

“Say again, Stiles, help us find you!” someone shouted and _that_ was Scott.

“HELP!” Stiles screeched hoarsely.

The door slammed back on its hinges making Stiles jump then someone was pulling him into their arms, more arms than he could handle. Stiles grappled with whoever it was and whispered, “Please, I wanna go home.”

“You’re going home Stiles,” the person said back.

“Son!” his dad shouted as he came up to Stiles and whoever was holding him and before he could even contemplate what he should say to his dad Stiles fainted, barely feeling as the person picked him up and they left the place he’d been taken to.

What felt like a moment later, Stiles came awake screaming and someone held him still, “Hey kiddo, settle down. You’re safe now.”

His dad, the voice was his dad… The knowledge helped Stiles to focus his vision enough to see his dad and to see the hospital room his was in. He also noticed the IV sticking out of his hand and the clean hospital gown he was in.

“What…” Stiles coughed, his voice raw from misuse, “What happened?”

“We found you, something must have spooked the person who took you because by the time we got there, you were alone and locked in that room. Everyone was ripping that place apart looking for you. Doctor is going to come check on you in a little while but it seems like you are doing pretty well, exhaustion and malnourished. It could have been worse and you are going to be in so much trouble for all the lies you’ve told me recently.”

Stiles groaned, “Oh crap, you know about Scott and everyone.”

Dad nodded, “We are going to have a long conversation about honesty later, but for now you are going to rest and get your strength back. Apparently, I’m not allowed to ban you from the Hale house, those other teenagers are demanding your presence as soon as you are able to be there.”

Stiles shook his head, “Won’t go back there,” he muttered.

“Why not?” Dad asked.

“Derek doesn’t want me there,” Stiles responded then took a drink of water. Since when has talking become such a painful chore? He was a mile a minute talker, it better go away.

“Well maybe that’s not as true as you think it is but don’t worry about it right now. Just sleep.”

Stiles nodded, mostly because he was still exhausted and he didn’t want to ask his dad any questions that would inevitably lead to a grounding. He closed his eyes and let himself slip back into a medicinally inclined sleep. The next couple of times he woke up, Stiles was never alone; either Scott or Melissa or his dad was always there. At one point Stiles was sure he’d seen Allison and Lydia but couldn’t be absolutely sure. It was possible he’d been hallucinating.

It wasn’t until the next day when Stiles woke up feeling much better when he realized there was something playing in the room. It was a guitar, Stiles smiled because it just reminded him of Derek playing at the bar. Maybe someone was playing for the kids down the hall or something.

Though there was something familiar enough about it for him to open his eyes and look around the room.

Derek was playing a guitar in the darkened corner of Stiles’s room. He snapped into a sitting position, winced at the pain it caused before he refocused on Derek.

”What are you doing here?” he asked. “Not that I’m not happy to see you and I’m sure I owe you a thousand thank yous for saving me.”

Derek kept strumming quietly on the guitar, “I’m glad you’re okay and I am so sorry that you got dragged into something that had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.”

Stiles frowned, “Well thanks but again, I was there under not the best circumstances so I think my thank you is more important than your ‘hangin myself on the cross’ sorry.”

Derek frowned at him, “Clearly you are still concussed or something, maybe you need more sleep.”

Stiles chuckled, settling back down on the pillows and listened while Derek strummed a little longer on the guitar, “Do the others know about the guitar and the—the singing?” he asked.

Derek shrugged, saying nothing, “Don’t worry about my secrets, Stiles, worry about getting better. The house isn’t going to build itself and I need it to be done before it gets too cold to work.”

“Why would you care about the cold?” Stiles asked.

“I was thinking more about you,” Derek whispered back and Stiles nodded not knowing what else to say.

He fell asleep listening to Derek hum along with the guitar, imaging he was back in The Raven, listening to Derek perform. Hoping that the others were allowed to know now.

After about four days in the hospital, Stiles was done with the bedrest and demanding he be let loose upon the world once more. The doctor agreed that he could leave the next evening as long as he was eating well and all his tests came back okay. Stiles was sure they would so he just had to get through one more day. One more day with nothing to do and sporadic visitors.

Dad stopped by that morning before work to check on him, hugging Stiles and letting him know that he would be back to take him home. Apparently there hadn’t been any more news on the guy who kidnapped Stiles, at The Raven or anything. Stiles didn’t really care; he didn’t think that they were coming back for him or anything.

Stiles was alone for most of the morning, then just barely after they delivered his lunch, Derek walked in with his guitar and some small speakers. Stiles frowned, “Back to hum some more?” Stiles asked.

Derek smiled shyly as he sat down in his corner chair and started tuning the instrument and then grabbed his phone and hooked it to the speakerphones and there was some kind of soundtrack. Stiles frowned while he munched on his last hospital meal for this stay.

Then Derek started singing, here in the Beacon Hills hospital and to Stiles Stilinski. He sat on his bed; his mouth wide open in surprise before he finally closed it with a snap. Derek sang along with the tracks on the phone and only used the guitar for melodies or variations in the music. Stiles settled back once he was done with his meal and enjoyed the show. Three songs and he turned down the soundtrack and looked over at Stiles.

“Wow,” Stiles whispered. “New songs?”

Derek smiled, “Been working on them for today, kind of like a present and an apology.”

“I already told you, no more apologies.”

Derek sighed, “I know what you said but I overreacted that day when I found out you were at the bar. I shouldn’t have told you that you weren’t welcome. So, I am here to tell you something that I was afraid to feel, afraid to be honest about.”

Derek stuttered strumming the guitar a little and for once Stiles knew the song, only because it was always on the radio in different iterations. It was ‘We Found Love’ and Stiles stared at Derek in shock as he continued.

_‘We found love in a hopeless place_

Oh god, Stiles thought, Derek was singing to him. He was singing to him about love and finding it in a hopeless place. What the fuck was he supposed to think about that?

 

_‘Shine a light through an open door,_

_Love and life I will divide,_

_Turn away cause I need you more,_

_Feel the heartbeat in my mind.’_

 

Derek kept singing but his eyes were open and they were on Stiles as the song continued through the next verse. He tried to listen to the lyrics, he really did but he was just being swept up in the feelings, like he always did when Derek was singing.

While Derek was winding down on the final ‘We found love’ line, Stiles moved to the side of the bed and waited. Derek let the music on the phone continue while he put the guitar down and walked over to Stiles, moving to sit between his thighs.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

“Is what okay?” Stiles responded huskily.

“Can I kiss you? We can talk about everything and about how I didn’t know and I’m an idiot and I’m sorry.”

Before Derek could take another breath for more self-hate, Stiles sat up straight and tugged Derek down until their lips met in a hard and ungraceful kiss. Stiles laughed in the back of his throat as Derek leaned down and smoothed out their kiss into something that was more lips and less teeth and awkwardness.

The embrace carried on for a couple minutes until Derek pulled back and sat down next to Stiles, “We have a lot to talk about.”

Stiles nodded, “I have one really important question first.”

“Go for it,” Derek took a deep breath like he was waiting for the literal worst.

“Can I go back to The Raven and be at the front of the room when you perform and tell everyone that I’m your boyfriend?”

Derek laughed, then leaned in to press a kiss to the side of Stiles’s face, “I suppose especially since I am going to be inviting everyone to watch me sing in a couple weeks. I already invited the betas, and Scott and Lydia. I am taking the next couple weeks to work on the house before my unofficial ‘debut’.”

“Wow, I can’t wait,” Stiles paused, “You know what this means right?”

Derek tilted his head, “What?”

“You are going to have to protect me from weirdos who want to use me against you.”

Derek nodded, looking somber and like he was about to apologize again but Stiles shook his head. Instead Derek just responded with, “Done.”

Stiles pressed another kiss to Derek’s lips and wondered what songs Derek was going to play at his next gig.

He couldn’t wait to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, please if you feel you need to correct something at least add something you liked about the fic too.


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